“I’m so excited that Uncle Damon is your mate.” Kyla did a little dance and punched her fist into the air. She was the second oldest and tended to be the most outspoken of the bunch. “We didn’t get to see you much this trip, but pretty soon, you’ll be living just down the street, and we can hang out with you whenever we want.”
There was an awkward silence as Damon and I looked at each other. We’d done an excellent job of avoiding the subject of what came next, but we were just about out of time for that conversation. When I’d called Riggs to let him know I wasn’t going to be back in town on Monday as I’d originally planned, he hadn’t been happy about the delay. But he’d agreed it was necessary when I’d explained that I’d found my mate in Timber Ridge. His patience had a limit, though. If I wanted to keep my job, I needed to be back in New York City next week. While I figured Damon would understand if I decided to go back—and would insist on coming with me because he’d never agree to us being apart for more than a day—I wasn’t sure that my mate could ever be truly happy living in a big city.
Offering my niece a weak smile, I murmured, “That would be pretty awesome.”
“Alright, kiddos.” Calliope clapped her hands together. “Go upstairs and get ready for bed.”
“But it’s not that late, and we wanted to play with Aunt Trinity and Uncle Damon,” Alena complained, jutting her bottom lip out.
“Yeah,” the other kids cried in agreement, following their older sister’s lead.
“Listen to your mother,” Tane growled, giving his children a look that reminded me so much of our father that I had to hold back a grin.
My nieces and nephew didn’t argue. As they headed toward the stairs, Calliope eased their concern by assuring, “You still have a couple of hours before bedtime, so you’ll have plenty of time to spend with your aunt and uncle.”
Their little footsteps sped up at that news, making me giggle. I loved how excited they were to hang out with me even though I hadn’t spent as much time with them as I should have before now. I hadn’t been that good of an aunt since I mostly saw them when Tane and his family came out to New York for a visit.
“Thank you so, so much for watching the kids tonight. We know that you and Damon would prefer to be alone while you’re in the early stages of mating and would have understood if you hadn’t wanted to come over tonight.” Calliope nudged my brother in the side when he didn’t chime in.
“Can we change the subject?” A muscle jumped in Tane’s jaw. “I don’t want to think about how my sister has been spending her time over the past few days."
Calliope rolled her eyes, and I shook off my guilt and laughed. “As if you have any room to complain when I’m going to be hanging out with your four cubs while you go out to celebrate your anniversary and yet another pregnancy. I know how you’ve been spending your time for the past decade or so, too.”
I finished my statement with a fake gagging noise, and my brother chuckled while shaking his head. “I guess I can’t argue with that since knocking my mate up is my favorite pastime.”
“And practicing, too.” Calliope covered her mouth as she giggled, her cheeks turning pink.
“Luckily for me, it wasn’t just practice, or else I wouldn’t be able to name the next baby.” I rubbed my hands together and grinned. “I’m really hoping it’s a girl so I can make her my namesake.”
Calliope returned my smile. “I’ve always thought Trinity was a beautiful name.”
“Nope. Sorry. It’s not going to happen.” Tane shook his head and lifted his finger to make a circle gesture in the air. “The deal was that you watched our children so Calliope and I could go on our anniversary trip, but that’s not what happened, is it? All I get is a few hours to take my mate out to dinner, which means you didn’t hold up your end of the bargain.”
“C’mon, it’s not my fault I found my mate only a few hours after I got here.” I fisted my hands at my hips. “Are you really going to punish me for the best thing that’s ever happened to me?”
Damon wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. “It isn’t exactly flattering to have my mate talking about someone being at fault for us finally finding each other.”
I rubbed my cheek against his shoulder, grimacing a little over how I’d worded that part. “You know I didn’t mean it that way.”
“True,” he conceded with a grin. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t tease you about it.”